{"id":891393,"date":"2026-09-14T06:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T06:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/891393\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T06:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T06:40:21","slug":"all-that-she-wants-review-a-likable-generation-gap-romcom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/891393\/","title":{"rendered":"‘All That She Wants’ Review: A Likable Generation-Gap Romcom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMillennials get their Mrs. Robinson moment with \u201cAll That She Wants<\/a>,\u201d an age-gap romcom titled after the 1992 Ace of Base hit. If you remember listening to that song on a cassingle, it\u2019s time to ask your doctor about perimenopause. Professional dancer Emma (Annie Murphy<\/a>) isn\u2019t quite there yet, but in her early thirties, she\u2019s feeling her age. Symptoms include baby fever, exacerbated by the pregnancy announcement of her sister Macy (Zosia Mamet), and an intolerance to her pompous, long-term but non-committal boyfriend Spencer (Finn Wittrock).<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the wake of her breakup, Emma meets an intriguing guy, Luke (Cooper Raiff<\/a>), at a nightclub. A grad student, he\u2019s about a decade younger than Emma, but his old soul is enchanted by her awkward manic pixie dream girl energy. Fueled by shots and undeniable chemistry, they fall into bed in his university dorm room. Here\u2019s the twist: In the clarity of morning, Emma spots a few family photos and realizes she used to babysit four year-old Luke, whom she once referred to as \u201cLil Lukey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSchitt\u2019s Creek\u201d writer David West Read penned this script specifically for Murphy, who won an Emmy for her performance in that acclaimed comedy series, and the film is built around the expressive physical humor that made her Alexis Rose so GIF-able. But \u201cAll That She Wants\u201d gives Murphy an opportunity to demonstrate her dramatic chops too, in a role that requires Emma to grow over time, which is marked over a couple of years in jumps from May to December (LOL).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is co-directed by spouses Andrew Rhymer<\/a> and (in her helming debut) Scarlett Bermingham<\/a>, who previously worked on the 2019 wedding rom-com \u201cPlus One\u201d \u2014 Rhymer as co-writer and co-director, Bermingham as a supporting player. While the tone and look of \u201cAll That She Wants\u201d starts out quite Netflix-y, it\u2019s the characters and performances that elevate this to future comfort-watch territory.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his own films as director-star, Raiff has made himself the go-to younger guy for age-gap romances. His college-set debut \u201cShithouse\u201d was about the connection between a freshman and his sophomore resident advisor (Dylan Gelula); he followed that up with \u201cCha Cha Real Smooth,\u201d playing a bar mitzvah party-starter flirting with an older single mom played by Dakota Johnson. However, Raiff is a far more appealing romantic lead under the guidance of a different directing team, with another writer\u2019s script. This is his warmest and most charming turn yet \u2014 his edges buffed out in a good way.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the former babysitter hiccup is ostensibly the obstacle for Emma and Charlie\u2019s love story, Emma gets over it pretty quickly, and that speed bump is a little too contrived and minor. The biggest hurdle is Emma\u2019s own brain. She\u2019s hamstrung herself with the toxic perfectionism she inherited from her mother (Christine Baranski), and the expectations that she perceives other people have for her. The title \u201cAll that She Wants\u201d might be a little cutesy (that needle-drop is both inevitable and highly anticipated), but it\u2019s also apt. What exactly does Emma want for herself that has nothing to do with what other people have decided she should want?<\/p>\n

\n\tLike the maneater protagonist of the song, what Emma wants is a baby \u2014 an actual human child \u2014whether that\u2019s considered feminist or not. She throws herself into a career change, but her desire for motherhood doesn\u2019t abate, and she realizes that Luke might be an ideal sperm donor. He agrees because he wants to help, and to spend time with Emma. Within the confines of this transactional relationship, will Emma let herself love Luke? Or be loved by him?<\/p>\n

\n\tMurphy and Raiff are well-matched. Emma\u2019s manic, quirky energy might feel slightly out of date and a little over the top, but that\u2019s what makes Luke adore her, and because we see her through his eyes, she\u2019s perfectly adorkable. Luke grounds Emma, but ultimately, Emma grounds herself, through purpose and family. It\u2019s satisfying seeing the journey that this character goes on to finding her own happiness, as much within herself as with others.<\/p>\n

\n\tRhymer and Bermingham\u2019s solid direction lets the performances shine against a standard-issue, spit-shiny Toronto landscape. But \u201cAll That She Wants\u201d is more about the script. Read kicks this tale off with a meet-cute and an unconventional relationship, but finds authentic emotion and real social issues to power the characters\u2019 journeys forward. As the anecdotal data piles up \u2014 from cultural trend pieces, to pop culture, to movies like \u201cBabygirl\u201d and \u201cI Want Your Sex\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s no surprise that the younger man-older woman dynamic has made its way to the romantic comedy. This time, \u201cMrs. Robinson\u201d finds a different, more modern kind of happy ending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millennials get their Mrs. Robinson moment with \u201cAll That She Wants,\u201d an age-gap romcom titled after the 1992…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[461118,461119,363391,64,63,461120,134,344,461121,18033],"class_list":["post-891393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-all-that-she-wants","tag-andrew-rhymer","tag-annie-murphy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cooper-raiff","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-scarlett-bermingham","tag-toronto-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}